Diaper drive for homeless infants back again

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, February 6, 2011

A diaper drive for needy families was so successful last year that Liz Hitt and others who help homeless families decided to have another one for babies whose mothers are desperately in need of the disposable items.

"From 206 homeless families in 2000 to 762 in 2010, the number of homeless children living in need is at an all-time high," Hitt said. "In 2009, 144 children under the age of 1 required homeless shelter, and in 2010, that number rose to 224."

The society has joined with KeyBank to host a diaper drive beginning Monday and running through Feb. 18. Twenty-five branches in Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga will collect diapers and diaper-related items, such as baby wipes, cream and powder. People can also donate money by going to HATAS online and designating the donation for diapers.

Last year, the first year of the drive, more than $3,300 was raised, all of which went to buy diapers in bulk from the New York Industries for the Blind, based in Albany, Hitt said. Also, diapers were dropped off at either a bank branch or at HATAS headquarters at 138 Central Ave., Albany. Altogether, more than 6,000 diapers were collected, Hitt said.

The agency gave $1,000 worth of diapers, about 2,000, to the Schuyler Inn in Menands, which houses homeless families, she said, and another $1,000 worth of diapers to the Pine Grove Methodist church on Central Avenue in Colonie, which runs a popular food pantry and homeless families who live in a nearby motel ask for the diapers.

Last year, "we ran out of the larger sizes, the 4 and 5 sizes ran out right away," Hitt said. "Those are for kids on the potty-training cusp but are not potty trained. It's very, very hard to potty train a homeless child because there is so much stress in the child's life."

Pull-ups for older children are also needed, she said.

The agency also has the Change for Change Program that is seeking 2,500 donors willing to contribute $10 a month for homeless children. For more information go to info@hatas.org or call 463-2124, ext. 229.

It's been more than a year since one resident at the Avila Retirement Community in Guilderland voiced concerns about the presence of turkey vultures there. The large birds, which can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet, sat on a fence at the retirement community every morning after a stop at the Rapp Road landfill.

Back then, resident Ted Beebe made jokes about the vultures swarming the grounds, but the birds have since disappeared.

Paul Nolles, Avila's maintenance and security supervisor, said the birds left for the winter but tend to come back around May or June.

"They are one ugly-looking bird," he said. "They don't do anything, just sit there."

Nolles said most residents get a kick out of watching the buzzards sit on the fence around the retention pond of the Teresian House nursing home.

The vultures have been frequenting the area since 2004, he said.

Nolles said no one at the retirement community has looked into methods to get rid of the birds because the only disturbance they cause is making a mess when they land on roofs sometimes.